4 Steps: Think Abstractly

Rules — the unwritten kind that permeate the processes we undertake to tackle a host of projects — define and itemize the experience, and in many cases they serve us well. For instance, rules act as a guide when we’re uncertain about how to get started.

Unfortunately, over time we come to rely too heavily on those rules and instead of trying new ideas we stay on the same traveled paths. The consequence is that we fail to fully explore other avenues of thinking, and while the end result might be adequate, it is rarely inspired and, too often, expected.

The following four-step system to think abstractly is geared to let you break out of old patterns, and can be applied and reapplied several times in the course of any project.

step 1

Review the rules

Either you have a habitual way of approaching many projects or you are aware of an accepted way. Since over time these "rules" can most likely be characterized as a rut, lay them out in front of you before you begin. Example 1: You are giving a presentation on difficult source material. How would you normally go about it? Maybe compile the information, practice it, and then present it at the head of a conference table.

Example 2: You’re debating an issue, perhaps global warming. You’re arguing "against" it. Normally you might research at your desk on the web, compile statistics and sources that seem to contradict global warming and anticipate some of your opponents' points.

step 2

Deliberately break them

As an exercise, deliberately break those "rules" simply because they’re there, and when you do so take them to a ridiculous extreme.

Example 1: Instead of following the old mold, imagine going to work and giving your presentation not in the English language in a professional manner, but as something absurd — like a Spanish-language puppet show.

Example 2: Instead of doing your work the standard way, imagine doing all your global warming research by interviewing a decidedly uninformed group: In this case, residents of an old folks’ home, people who rarely, if ever, access the internet and have little or no stake in the notion of global warming.